


Rhymes that Keep their Secrets

by mishaberlioz



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Humor, Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-06
Updated: 2020-07-06
Packaged: 2021-03-05 03:41:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,149
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25117813
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mishaberlioz/pseuds/mishaberlioz
Summary: The day he gets back from camp, Dustin drags all his friends up Weathertop Hill to build his radio. After his friends have gone home, he finally manages to get through to Suzie. Little do they know that the radio frequencies are being monitored from the secret underground base.When Pavel was posted to the secret base in America, he was expecting extradimensional monsters and CIA infiltrators. Instead, he was assigned the task of monitoring the civilian radio frequencies, where nothing ever happens. But one evening, he overhears something entirely unexpected...
Relationships: Dustin Henderson/Suzie
Comments: 6
Kudos: 9





	Rhymes that Keep their Secrets

It was an ordinary day in the communications room. Pavel glanced up and down the row of radio operators and sighed. Everyone else was busy. Dimitri was rattling off important-sounding phrases to the operator in Kamchatka, and Mikhail was jotting down notes from the command centre in Moscow. But he and Sergei were stuck monitoring the civilian frequencies, where nothing interesting ever happened.

Who would have thought life in a secret military installation would be so boring?

He adjusted his headset. There was a burst of static followed by a crackling voice. As always, it was a man. At least if there was a woman from time to time it would add some variety…

“This is N6A from Los Angeles, USA,” said the voice. “Does anyone copy?”

“I copy, N6A,” said a second voice. “This is K3B from Denver, Colorado.”

“Hey, it’s been awhile, K3B,” said the first voice. “You’re coming through a lot clearer now. You got a new setup?”

“Yeah, actually, I just got it up and running…”

Pavel groaned. What was wrong with these Americans? Out of everything they could be doing, they chose to spend their free time fiddling with expensive radio equipment. Didn't they have telephones?

Beside him, Sergei was slumped forward in his seat, with his head resting on his arms and his eyes closed.

“Hey.” Pavel nudged him. “Are you still alive?”

Sergei raised his head and gave him a despairing look. “They've spent three hours arguing about different types of variable frequency oscillators. Three hours. Don’t they have anything else to do?”

“I don’t understand why the Captain makes us monitor the civilian frequencies anyway,” Pavel muttered. “We’re not even ….” He trailed off as N6A’s voice crackled over the connection.

“So anyway, are you still seeing that girl you were talking about?”

“Yeah…but she’s always saying I spend too much time fiddling with my radio…"

“Come on, man, at least you have a girl interested in you."

Sergei glanced over curiously. “What is it? Something interesting?”

Pavel grinned. “They’re talking about women.”

“What?” Sergei pulled off his headphones and reached for Pavel’s. “I want to hear. You can listen to mine.”

“Stop that! We can both listen.” Pavel unplugged his headphones and switched on the speaker, turning the volume down so it wouldn’t disturb the other operators.

“Yeah, well, her birthday’s coming up and I figure I gotta do something real good. Any ideas?”

There was a pause. Pavel waited, on the edge of his seat, wondering what the American would come up with.

“You should get her one of those new vacuum cleaners. Women go crazy for that shit."

“What?” Pavel stared at the speaker in disbelief. “Seriously?”

The operator on his other side turned to stare.

“Sorry,” Pavel quickly. “Uh…my reception is very poor today –"

“Shut up!” Sergei hissed, leaning closer. “I can’t hear what they’re saying.”

“I just feel like we have nothing to talk about. She’s always going on about some celebrity, and if I try to talk about radio, she gets bored.”

“Maybe you need to find someone you have more in common with.”

“Hah! That’ll be the day. Everyone knows there aren’t any women on the airwaves.”

“Hey, you never know. I heard one reading the weather report the other day.”

The Americans laughed. Just then, there was a burst of static and a faint high-pitched voice spoke over the airwaves. Pavel leaned in closer.

“Dusty? Dusty, do you copy?”

A second youthful voice answered. “I copy, Suzie. I can hear a lot better on this channel.”

“Who's that?” Sergei whispered. “Does the American have kids?”

Pavel shook his head. “How could he have kids? He doesn’t even know how to keep a woman.”

“Are you ready, Suzie?” said the boy. “I’ve been practicing all week.“

“Oh, Dusty, you’re so romantic – “

“Hey, wait a minute!” N6A interrupted. “Who is this? State your call sign and zone code!”

“Um…this is K3N from Hawkins, Indiana,” the boy said slowly. “And my girlfriend is N5SZ from Salt Lake City, Utah.” He hesitated. “Um…Suzie? You probably can’t hear them, but there are other people on this channel….”

Pavel couldn’t help feeling a bit impressed. To get a radio license in America, you had to know Morse code and pass an exam. So if the boy was telling the truth, they must be pretty smart.

“Oh, but Dusty-bun, I’ve been looking forward to this all week!” said the girl. “You’re not embarrassed, are you?”

“No, but –“

“Then let’s do it!”

“Do what?” K3B demanded. “What is this?”

“Maybe they’re going to take drugs,” Sergei whispered.

“Idiot!” Pavel hissed. “Why would they need a radio for that?”

There was a long silence, broken only by the crackling of radio static. Then a faint voice echoed out of the speaker.

“Turn around… look at what you seeeeeeee….”

Pavel stared at the radio, shocked into silence. Was he somehow picking up a local music station?

“In her face…” The voice continued, growing louder and more confident. “The mirror of your dreams…”

But it didn’t sound like a professional recording. There wasn’t even any background music. Pavel realized, with dawning amazement, that the American boy was singing.

“Make believe I’m everywhere, given in the liiiiiiight…”

The girl had joined in too. Their voices split into harmonies and grew louder and louder. Pavel hurriedly turned down the volume, but the other operators had already noticed.

“What's that?” Vassily pushed up his headphones. “You know we’re not allowed to listen to commercial stations –"

“We’re not!” Pavel hissed. “It’s just some kids fooling around. Now shut up!”

Vassily hesitated a moment, then shrugged and rolled closer in his chair. “There’s nothing happening in Kamchatka anyway.”

“ - written in the pages is….the answer to a never-ending story… ”

Suddenly the singing was interrupted by a burst of static and N6A’s voice blared angrily out of the speaker. The children’s voices faltered and fell silent.

“Hey! You kids knock it off right now!”

“Yeah!” K3B put in. “What is this, Sesame Street?”

The three operators looked at each other and groaned.

“Dusty, what’s the matter?” asked the girl. She was probably too far out of range to hear the interruptions. “Why did you stop?”

“Sorry,” the boy mumbled. “They’re telling us to get off the air –“

“That’s right!” K3B barked. “You kids can go mess around somewhere else. We’re all serious users on this channel.”

“So are we!” the boy said indignantly. “We’ve both been licensed operators for years. I was just trying to do something special for her.”

“It’s true,” said the girl. “Um, if you can hear me…. this radio is the only way we can communicate. My family doesn’t have a phone. So…would it be ok if we just finish our song? It won’t take long, I promise.”

Pavel couldn’t help smiling. It seemed that young people all over the world weren’t so different after all. He could still remember when he’d been hopelessly in love with Zoya Dobrinina, who sat in front of him in class. He’d tried to kiss her one day after a Young Pioneers meeting, and she’d punched him in the nose. Perhaps things would have been different if he’d tried singing to her.

He leaned forward, wondering what the Americans would say. Surely they too could remember being young?

“We’re not idiots, kid,” K3N snapped. “You said your girlfriend’s transmitting from Salt Lake City? There’s no way she’s got a set that powerful. You’d need a whole lot of tooth fairy money to pay for it –“

Unbelievable! Pavel turned to look at Sergei, who shook his head in disgust. Vassily looked equally unimpressed.

“She didn’t pay for it, she built it!” the boy exclaimed. “And so did I! We can’t even talk on the phone since her parents are Mormons, so the radio is our only way to communicate.“

“Yeah, nice story, kid. Now get off the air.”

“Come on!” Vassily threw up his hands in frustration. “What’s his problem? Just let the kids have their fun!”

“They’re not hurting anyone,” Sergei said quietly. “And they sounded so happy…”

Pavel said nothing. He was suddenly feeling very uneasy. Like most of the soldiers posted to the American base, he didn’t know much about what they were doing there. The official story was that they were trying to stop the Americans from travelling through a parallel universe and invading the USSR. Of course, that was probably just the usual propaganda, but he’d heard rumours about the Gateway and the terrible things lurking behind it…

A lump settled in his stomach. Ever since he’d arrived, he’d been gnawed by fear of what might crawl out of the gate, or what would happen to them if the CIA. But he hadn't really given much thought to the millions of normal people who lived in America.

He knew, intellectually, that they weren't all cigar-smoking capitalists like in the cartoons. But they had never seemed quite real until just now, when he'd heard the two children singing to each other. And America was full of kids like them...not to mention bus drivers, shopkeepers, teachers, dentists, and Olivia Newton-John. If something came out of the Gate, what would happen to them all?

There wasn't much Pavel could do. He couldn't turn around and go home, and he couldn't force the scientists to stop what they were doing. But he was suddenly seized by an impulse to do something, and he picked up his microphone

“Are you crazy?” Sergei grabbed at the microphone. “What are you going to say? I am a secret Russian spy and I think you should be nicer to children?”

Pavel shoved him off and switched on the microphone. He cupped his hand over it to distort his voice.

“Bonjour...hello…” He wasn’t quite sure what a French accent would sound like in English, but he did his best. “…callsign CK7RT…calling from Belgium…Liège….”

“Belgium? Holy shit, dude! That must be, what, five thousand miles?”

Pavel went on speaking, rubbing his finger over the microphone to sound like static. “Cannot hear…” he said. “…Children…they were singing…”

“Oh, just some kids messing around,” N4A said. “We told them to knock it off.”

Sergei made another grab for the microphone, but Pavel held him off.

“In the war…your country…liberated mine,” he said. “They say…America is a great country…freedom for all…”

“Damn right,” N6A said proudly. “That’s us. The land of the free.”

“The children –“ Pavel dodged as Sergei made a grab for the microphone - “…are they not…Americans? Are they not free to sing?”

There was a long silence.

“You know what, fine!” K3B snapped. “You kids do what you want. I’m leaving.”

“Me too,” N6A said sullenly. “Over and out.”

There was a burst of static and then the Americans were silent. Pavel grinned, and Sergei buried his head in his hands.

“Um, Monsieur CK7RT?” the boy said shyly. “Can you hear me? Um, thanks for sticking up for us.”

“Moi aussi, je vous remercie du fond de mon Coeur,” said the girl. “Et je tiens également à vous demander les specifications de votre installation –"

Pavel drew back in alarm. She could speak French too? What kind of children were these? Maybe the rumours were true, and the ericans really were breeding supersoldiers…

“Cannot understand,” he said quickly. “Losing signal…au revoir…” And he hurriedly shut off the microphone and switched to a different channel.

“You idiot!” Sergei hissed. “If the Captain finds out –"

“We’ll just make sure he doesn’t,” Pavel muttered. “Listen – if we write in our shift reports that some girl in Utah was singing about never-ending stories, they’ll start asking questions. We’ll just say that the Americans talked about radios as usual.”

Sergei thought for a moment and nodded. “Agreed.”

“Wait a minute,” Vassily protested. “If these kids have a radio strong enough to transmit to Utah, who’s to say they won’t pick up our communications?”

Pavel felt suddenly cold. That was exactly what the higher-ups would start thinking if they found out. And once they started thinking, they would want to put a stop to it…by any means necessary.

“Don’t be an idiot,” he snapped. “We don’t transmit on the amateur bands, and all our frequencies are encrypted. Besides, if you start telling stories, they’re going to wonder how you heard it when you were supposed to be talking to Kamchatka.”

“All right, all right,” Vassily grumbled. “Cool it.”  
He put his headphones back on, and Pavel turned his attention to his own radio. There was no sense getting the upper levels all worked up over something like this. The chances that the kids would pick up a broadcast from the base were miniscule, and even if they did, they wouldn’t be able to make sense of it. Besides, they were just kids. What harm could they possibly do?


End file.
